We’ve slogged through many years of daily news about the oil industry globally, nationally and locally. We’ve read of myriad deals among corporations and nations eager to acquire wealth by supplying us with the oozy remains of long-dead dinosaurs. We’ve cringed at every “spill” (you gotta hand it to whomever co-opted that relatively benign word so it’s used irrespective of the volume of oil released), and we’ve been horrified at the huge blowouts such as BP’s famed 3-month gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.

Lately, we’ve experienced fracking, that lightly regulated practice of dumping exotic mixes of toxic chemicals (usually vaguely identified) and millions of gallons of precious water deep underground in an effort to force out oil and gas. We’ve also learned to fear the long-time object of America’s affection, the trains, as they began hauling volatile crude in tanker cars prone to rupturing when derailed, threatening horrendous conflagrations such as the one at Lac-Mégantic in Quebec.

But, cheer up, folks! In the midst of all this negativity comes what just might be the first rays of a brighter (in more ways than one) and better future for a world burning itself up by flagrant production of carbon and on the verge of extinguishing its most imperfect species, us. Three impressive publications on this subject were just released by three impressive institutions in the first three days of this month.

Inextricably linked to war and and disaster, the nuclear experimentation industry exemplifies every problem society has stubbornly manifest, only exaggerated and magnified beyond the pale. It causes social and environmental problems of the most hazardous and horrendous proportions, and the fact that we allow it appears to be the result of humanity’s collective mental problems. Our darker inner nature is destroying Mother Nature.

The environmental destruction of nuclear experimentation is exactly like the environmental destruction caused by global burning of petroleum products, only exponentially so.

Every week, Kate Lanier assembles the most important global energy and climate news, including:

New England: Off the coast of New England, sea surface temperatures “are flashing red, showing an extreme warm anomaly.” That’s a direct, immediate link to the recent record snowfall in Boston. Expect more.

California: Stunning state-wide fracking waste water test results: “concentrations of the human carcinogen benzene … [at] levels thousands of times greater than state and federal agencies consider safe.” ‘Significant’ benzene levels were in 98% of the water samples. Not only that, but CA “inadvertently” allowed frackers to inject their “flowback water into protected aquifers containing drinking water.” LA Times says “halt new operations.”

Peru: Oil contamination by Argentina’s Pluspetrol in the Peruvian Amazon so upset indigenous people that they “stormed a military base being used by Pluspetrol as a storage area.” Pluspetrol is packing up and leaving Peru—and the government “is investigating the illegal use of firearms by police during the demonstrations.”